Air

Air protection in the Republic of Croatia is regulated by the umbrella acts: Environmental Protection Act (Official Gazette 80/13, 78/15) and the Air Protection Act (Official Gazette 130/11, 47/14) and a number of implementing regulations adopted pursuant to those Acts.

Implementing regulations adopted pursuant to the Air Protection Act legally regulate the main areas of air protection: air quality monitoring, assessment and reporting, air pollution prevention and reduction, limit values for emissions of pollutants from stationary sources, monitoring of pollutant emissions, requirements for technical equipment and fuel, phase-out of ozone depleting substances, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Air quality

Monitoring of air quality in the Republic of Croatia is carried out within the framework of the national network for continuous air quality monitoring and local networks for air quality monitoring in counties and cities that include special purpose monitoring stations.

The number of monitoring stations, as well as the measuring regime in them is periodically changed and continuously improved. In the last ten years there was a significant increase in the number of automatic stations, primarily due to the development of the national network for continuous air quality monitoring and the monitoring stations established in accordance with the decision on environmental acceptability of a project or the decision on integrated environmental protection requirements financed by the polluters.

In line with the Air Protection Act, the body responsible for managing the national network has since 2010 been the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service.

It is attempted, through preventive measures and instruments for preserving air quality, to prevent pollution and improve air quality by methodical planning of projects in the environment, anticipation of potential impacts on air quality, prescribing of adequate air protection requirements, monitoring and reporting on air quality, alignment and improvement of legislation and building and strengthening institutional, organisational and expert/scientific capacities. Preventive measures include the existing intersectoral environmental protection measures and instruments as well as additional measures the purpose of which is to improve integrated air quality management system in the Republic of Croatia.

Emissions into the air

General information on emissions into the air

Data on pollutant emissions into the air is a constituent part of the air quality information system maintained by the Croatian Agency for Environment and Nature for the purposes of the Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection. The Agency is responsible for collection of data on pollutant emissions in the Republic of Croatia and the preparation of the report on emission inventory in accordance with the obligations under Croatian legislation and international treaties. Improvement of the national emission monitoring system was carried out through the LIFE project – Reconstruction of national emission inventory system and enforcement of its implementation (LIFE00/TCY/CRO/00086). Through this project the national emission inventory was improved in line with the CORINAIR/EMEP methodology (‘top down’ system).